Merchants with Evil Intent (22 page)

      
On second thought, who knew what she’d
write at this point.

      
McShane rolled up his paper and threw it
against the kitchen wall. “I’d like to make things rough for that fuck face
Taylor. The son-of-a-bitch makes it sound like we’re jerking each other off.”

      
Brower’s lips formed a tight smile.
“Finally, something we can agree on. How’s O’Mara taking this?”

      
“Camryn or John?”

      
“Either, I guess,” shrugged Brower.

      
“John’s never liked Orlov. I’m afraid
he’ll fly to Ireland and take things into his own hands.
As
for Camryn?
John hasn’t heard from her. He was talking to her and she
hung up on him.”

      
Brower laughed. “Hard to imagine we
didn’t connect those two being father and daughter-they’re so much alike with
their temperament.”

      
“You’ve got that right,” McShane laughed.

      
They were interrupted by Joe Butler.
“McShane, there’s a call for you from Ireland.”

      
McShane strode to his office hoping they
nabbed Orlov.

      
He picked up the black phone.
“Lieutenant McShane here.”

      
“Good day to you, Lieutenant. I’m
Superintendent Liam Grimes. I’ve read the information you’ve sent and I want
you to know we are working diligently to locate Viktor Orlov.”

      
McShane frowned into the phone. “That’s
good to hear and we appreciate your cooperation in this matter. I’m
disappointed he’s still at large, however.”

      
“You have to understand our situation. We
received your information long after his arrival. We are viewing surveillance
tapes of the airport. As soon as I have any information I’ll contact you
directly,” Grimes replied.

      
“That’s all I can ask. Thank you,”
McShane muttered.

      
Brower poked his head into McShane’s
office.
“Anything?”

      
“Not a damn thing. Where the fuck is he?”

*
     
*
     
*

      
He awoke to the sun streaming in his
face. He forgot to pull the curtains closed before he fell asleep. It didn’t
matter since he was in a fifth floor room. He got out of bed and looked out the
window. He thought it was always rainy here. He frowned for a moment and walked
into the bathroom.

      
His image in the mirror gave him pause.
He’d never grown a beard, let alone a moustache. He liked the way it looked on
him. In fact, he was starting to look like someone new entirely.

      
Viktor grinned at his reflection.

      
Camryn might not recognize him.

      
He checked Camryn’s e-mail. So far she
hadn’t sent any messages. He opened one from her mom and settled back with a
grin on his face.

      
‘Camryn,
please call home as soon as you receive this. I need to hear your voice and
know you’re okay. John came by earlier and told us you hung up on him and
wouldn’t pick up his calls afterwards. I know you’re upset with him, but Cam,
he only did what he thought was best when he gave us custody of you.’

      
Viktor reread the e-mail again and rubbed
the stubble growing on his chin. John was Camryn’s father? That explained a
lot. No wonder he was a douche bag about the two of them dating.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Andre Valik sat shackled to a scarred wooden
table in a holding room waiting for his very late attorney. He hadn’t talked to
his wife in days and after she found out the truth, she’d take the kids and
live with her mother.

      
Larry Wolf sauntered into the room
wearing blue jeans and a striped shirt. Andre wrinkled his nose.

      
Wolf shifted his briefcase from his right
hand to his left and shook Andre’s hand. “Mr. Valik, sorry I’m late, but seeing
how you aren’t going anywhere soon…”

      
Valik lifted a menacing eyebrow to him.
He wanted to throttle the little son-of-a-bitch, but he was shackled to a
fucking table.

      
Wolf slapped his hands together. “Well,
let’s see what we can do to get you out of here.”

      
Valik watched as he shuffled through a
folder filled with papers.

      
“I need to phone my wife,” he blurted
out.

      
Wolf raised his eyebrows. “You’ve not
phoned her?”

      
“I’ve spoken with her, but briefly,” he
raised his free hand in exasperation and continued, “She has no idea what’s
going on.”

      
Wolf rolled his eyes and pulled out his
phone. “You have five minutes.”

      
Valik punched the numbers into the phone
and brought it to his ear.

      
“Hello?”

      
The sound of her voice brought tears to
his eyes.
“Hi, Coll.”

      
“Oh me God!
Andre! I’ve been worried! Where have you been?” Colleen shouted.

      
“Colleen, I’ve bad news, terrible news,
really. I’ve been arrested.”

      
For a long moment silence filled the
room.

      
“For what?
Surely it’s a mistake,” Colleen snorted.

      
“Can you come? I need to see you,” Valik
pleaded.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Colleen arrived at the station and an
officer directed her to a room. Her stomach churned and it got worse when she
spotted him shackled to a table.

      
“What’s happened to your face?” she
cried.

      
She pushed past a little man and ran to
her husband, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. His poor face! His lip was
cut and swollen and black and blue surrounded his eye.

      
“Andre! Who did this to you?” she
whimpered.

      
“Colleen, I’m not sure where to begin,”
he mumbled.

      
Trembling, she pulled a chair out and sat
next to him. He let out a hard breath and looked at the floor. “What I have to
say isn’t easy.”

      
Her voice broke. “Just tell me.”

      
“I’ve been arrested for being an
accomplice to a human trafficking ring.” When she didn’t respond he looked up
and noticed tears pooling in her eyes.

      
She swallowed hard and a tear fell onto
her cheek. “Go on,” she rasped, wiping the tear away.

      
“I sedated the women. Just enough so they
were loopy, you know, easy to move when the time came.”

      
“The time for what?” she snipped.

      
“For selling them,” he replied in a flat
tone.

      
She sat for a long moment staring at him.

      
“These women I’ve read aboot in the
paper-you did this?” she said icily.

      
“I didn’t kidnap them, I just sedated
them.” As the words left his lips he knew how absurd they sounded.

      
She snorted and stood abruptly, knocking
the chair onto the floor.

      
She bent to look him in the eyes. “You
sick son-of-a-bitch! You will
never
see me or your children again!”

      
He called out to her as she stormed
through the door, bumping into Wolf.

      
“Well, that didn’t go well,” Wolf
muttered as he picked up the chair.

      
“Fuck you,” growled Valik.

*
     
*
     
*

      
“Mr. Valik, I’m afraid I have other
distressing news for you,” Larry Wolf sighed.

      
Valik scoffed. Nothing was worse than his
wife hating him.

      
“My associates informed me a few minutes
ago that bail has been denied as you’re considered a flight risk.”

      
“It’s your job to turn that around, no?”

      
“Well, yes it is, but I can’t do anything
until your court date which isn’t until next week.”

      
Valik’s eyes grew large and the veins in
his neck protruded. Suddenly Wolf was very glad he was cuffed to the table.

      
“You need to expedite this! My wife is
probably booking a flight to Ireland as you shit talk me! I need to get out of
here!” Valik spat.

      
Wolf hastily shoved his papers into his
Pineidar briefcase and stood up. “Mr. Valik, you’re not calling the shots, the
District Attorney is. I’ll see you later in the week to discuss my strategy.
Good afternoon.”

      
Valik stood abruptly, momentarily
forgetting he was bound to the table in front of him. “Get me the fuck out of
here, Wolf!”

      
Later, much to Valik’s chagrin, he was
bussed to Cook County jail.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Colleen emptied the contents of her
stomach outside the police station. Several people made a wide stride past her.
She scoffed. In Ireland they would’ve stopped and offered assistance.

      
She scrambled to her van. Her husband was
a monster.
An evil bastard.
She was the daughter of a
cop! How did she
not
notice?

      
She pulled into her driveway, not knowing
how she arrived safely since her thoughts were elsewhere.

      
How would she tell her boys? She needed
to think, but couldn’t focus. An affair she could handle, but this? How was she
supposed to handle something this horrific?

      
She got out of the van and let herself in
the back door.

      
Once inside she grabbed the bottle of
whiskey from the cabinet and robotically walked into the den. She opened the
bottle and took a swig. She wouldn’t take too many swigs; she had too much
thinking to do. She needed to settle her nerves.

      
Their wedding photo mocked her from the
oak mantle. She crossed the room and held the frame in her shaking hand.

      
Tears fell steadily as she stared at the
picture.

      
After ten years of marriage, he was a
stranger to her. And then a startling thought came to her.

      
Was their marriage a sham? Had he been
doing this sort of thing all along?

      
She shivered and brushed away the tears.
He wasn’t worth it.

      
With that thought in mind she calmly
walked up the stairs and into their bedroom. She reached into the closet and
pulled down a suitcase and began to pack her things.
Just
enough for a week or so, until she figured things out.

      
Afterwards she went into the boys rooms
and packed some of their belongings as well.

      
Eventually they’d go to Ireland. She’d be
a single mom and the boys, fatherless.

*
     
*
     
*

      
Before Joe’s shift ended he made another
stop at the Valik home. Andre Valik was secretive about having a wife. She was
also a doctor, a psychologist, and practiced under her maiden name, Corrigan.

      
She wasn’t considered an accessory and
from the information gleaned from Mr. Valik, his wife had no prior knowledge of
his side job. He still had to talk with her.

      
He rang the door bell and waited a few
moments before leaving a second business card on the front door. This time he
wrote his personal cell number on the back, urging her to call.

      
He glanced back at the house while he
walked to his car. He saw no movement of curtains and no lights on inside.
Maybe she left town? He expected Brower to seek a search warrant in the coming
days.

      
A voice called to him from the next yard.
Over the low hedge he spotted an older lady.